Dispenser having a check valve



April 1, 1958 1.. T. WARD 2,828,892

DISPENSER HAVING A' CHECK VALVE Original Filed Aug. 16, 1954 35 3 INVENTOR. LOW/P7766 7' Vlm/ 3 32 BY ATTORNEY United States Patent DISPENSER HAHNG A CHECK VALVE Lawrence T. Ward, Portland, Pa.

Original application August 16, 1954, Serial No. 450,174,

now Patent No. 2,802,490, dated ugust 13, 1957. Divided and this application April 2, 1957, Serial No. 650,211

7 Claims. (Cl. 222-394) This invention relates to a dispenser having a check valve. It also relates to a check valve used in aerosol spray bombs. It further relates to check valves having a free floating ball.

This invention is a division of applicants Ser. No. 450,174, filed August 16, 1954, now U. S. Patent 2,802,490 of August 13, 1957.

It is an objective of this invention to provide a valve for spray bombs permitting the filling and re-filling of a container having such a valve with propellant fluid through said valve.

It is another objective to provide a valve for spray aerosol bombs which permits re-filling of the bomb container without requiring manipulation of any valve parts.

These and other objectives of this invention are set forth in the following descriptive disclosure of an illustrative embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a vertical section through the spray valve and a filling head disposed on the valve said valve being provided with a dip tube, and

Fig. 2 is a detail vertical section view, broken away in part, of the plunger of Fig. 1.

Turning to the drawing, a tubular valve housing 10 is provided with a central borehole 11, a horizontal shoulder 12, a circular collar 13 integral with the top surface of the shoulder 12 and in spaced relationship to the borehole 11, and further provided with a horizontal transverse apertured wall 14 disposed inwardly into the borehole 11. The valve housing 10 is provided with exteriorly disposed screw threads 15 for securing to the mating screw threads of a screw threaded aperture of a conventional aerosol bomb (partially shown).

The valve is provided with an integral cylindrical dip tube 16, preferably of plastic, having an enlarged diameter cylindrical end 17 to fit the borehole 11 of the valve housing 10. The dip tube below the enlarged end 17 is of a diameter permitting passing through the aperture of the transverse wall 14, but the end 17 is of too great a diameter to pass through the transverse wall aperture. Thus the dip tub 16 is captively held in the valve housing 10.

The spray valve of this invention is provided with a tubular plunger 18 made from two tubular separate longitudinal elements, namely a top tubular element 19 and a bottom tubular element 20, the top element 19 being captively and rigidly secured to the bottom element 20. The plunger 18 is also provided with a ball made of metal, plastic, rubber, cork, wood, etc. disposed in the tubular borehole of said plunger.

As shown in Fig. 2, the top plunger element 19 is provided with a longitudinal vertical borehole 21 and with a communicating lateral borehole or valve port 22 located in spaced relationship to the bottom of the top plunger element 20.

The bottom of the borehole 21 at a point below the lateral borehole 22 is provided with a cavity of enlarged diameter so that a shoulder 23 is provided as the top transverse apertured wall of said cavity. The Walls of the cavity of the top plunger element 19 are prm vided with at least one suitable corrugation 24 in the vertical cavity wall for a purpose to be explained here inafter.

The bottom plunger section 20 is provided with a top enlarged diameter cylindrical section 25 having a' top shoulder 26 and a bottom shoulder 27. As shown in Fig. 1, the diameter of the section 25 is slightly less than that of the borehole 11, thereby permitting passage of fluid therebetween in the operation of the valve plunger.

The bottom plunger section 20 is provided with a circular cup cavity in its section 25 having an undercut circular groove 28. The diameter of the cup cavity of the bottom plunger section is suitable to receive the bottom end of the top plunger 19. The tubular vertical borehole 29 of bottom plunger element 20 is provided at its top end where it enters the cup cavity with a'plurality of triangular slots formed by separator grids 29X. In other words, the mouth or aperture edge of borehole 29 where it enters the cup cavity is provided with saw cuts so that the ball 30 when in descended position (Fig. 2) as when pulled down by gravity, rests upon the slotted or grid mouth of borehole 29.

In assembling the plunger 18, the ball 30 is placed in the cup cavity of the lower plunger element 20, and the cavity of the top plunger element 19 is disposed over the ball 30 so that the ball 30 touches the vertical corrugations 24 of the top plunger element.

The top plunger element 19 is then struck a peening blow on its top end as by a hammer and the base of said plunger element 19 expands under this blow into the groove 28 thereby captively and fixedly locking the top plunger element 19 to the bottom plunger element 20 to give a rigid plunger 19 having a moveable ball 30 captively held in the plunger 18 conduit.

The plunger bottom element 20 is provided with two cutback sections of decreasing diameter namely a top section 31 and a bottom section 32. The surface of the bottom section 32 unites with the surface of section 31 by means of a beveled shoulder 33, whereas the surface of section 31 unites with the normal exterior surface 34 of the bottom plunger element by means of a beveled shoulder 35.

As shown in Fig. 1, the bottom section 32 of the bottom plunger element 20 is normally loosely disposed in enlarged section 17 of the dip tube 16. .A metal or non-metal rigid washer 36 is disposed upon the top surface of section 17 of the dip tube 12 and a coil spring 37 is located thereon. The I bottom plunger passes through the coil spring 38 and the aperture of washer 37 and bears urgingly against bottom shoulder 27 of the enlarged section 25.

The plunger 18 is captively held within the valve housing 10 by disposing an .apertured resilient washer 39 about the top plunger 19 and within collar 13 of the housing.

The resilient washer 39 is a sealer ring and seizes at all times the external surface of the top plunger element 19 in a gas tight manner. The washer 39 is held within housing 10 by spinning or crimping the collar top edge over toward the housing borehole 11. This turning over of the collar forms an apertured dome with forces the sealing ring or washer 37 in sealing relationship with the top horizontal shoulder 26 of the bottom plunger element 20. Top plunger element 19 in part protrudes above dome 13 to permit finger depression.

The assembled valve and its dip tube 16 is then screwthreaded into the screw-threaded aperture of a conventional aerosol bomb (not shown) so that the valve hotlllsing threads effect a gas tight seal to the bomb wa s.

Next the assembled aerosol bomb is filled with conventional self-propellant fluid containing the insecticide or other active ingredient to be dispensed.

In order to fill the assembled aerosol bombs a cylin drical filling head 40 having a borehole 41 of suitable diameter to receive the protruding end of the top plunger section 19 is used. The filling head is provided with a sealing rubber or plastic ring 42 disposed in a suitable receiving groove located in the bottom wall of the filling head 40.

The filling head 40 is provided with a lateral borehole 43 into which a tubular conduit 44 is press fitted in a gastight manner. 7

In filling the aerosol bomb, the ball 30 due to its weight rests upon the grid about the borehole 29 of the bottom plunger element. The liquid ingredient to be dispensed is forced through conduit 44 into borehole 41 where it unites with the self-propellant liquid, for example, Freon coming down borehole 41. The combined liquid streams mix and then enter into borehole 21 of the top plunger section 19 and thence pass between the corrugations 24 of the top plunger element cavity and then into the slots about the mouth of the borehole 29 and thence into the borehole 29 and thence into the dip tube 16 and finally into the bomb container.

After the aerosol container is sufficiently charged with liquid the filling head 40 is removed and the pressure of the self-propellant fluid in the container bomb forces the ball 30 upward against the aperture of the vertical borehole of the top plunger element 19 to form a gas tight seal between the ball 30 and the aperture edge of the vertical borehole of the top plunger element 19.

In operating a full or partly full charged aerosol bomb, the plunger 18 is provided with a conventional finger plate (not shown) having a curvatured borehole. The finger plate is disposed on the top of the plunger top element 19 with the respective finger plate borehole and top plunger element borehole in communication.

Depressing of the plunger 18 causes shoulder 26 of the bottom plunger to unseat from the sealing washer 39 and causes the bottom plunger section 31 to pass into the top section 17 of the dip tube 12. Further downward movement of the plunger 18 against spring 38 causes the lateral borehole 22 of the top plunger eiement 19 to pass below ring 39 to engage the reservoir chamber of the valve housing. 18 moves further within the borehole of the top section 170E the dip tube until the beveled shoulder 35 engages the rim of the mouth of the top section 17.

In practice, the movement of the plunger is such that the beveled shoulder 35 cuts off the reservoir chamber from the interior or borehole of the dip tube 12 and then the lateral borehole 22 moves into the reservoir chamber of the valve housing 10 below the sealing ring 39, where upon the measured or definite amount of liquid in the closed off valve chamber is dispensed out of the valve chamber and between the borehole 11 and the plunger section 25 and thence borehole 22 and then borehole 21 of the top plunger element 19 and thence into the atmosphere.

Upon release of the finger pressure the spring 38 returns the plunger 18 back to its original position shown Meanwhile, the bottom plunger element This invention is of generic scope and is therefore not to be limited to the illustrative embodiment.

I claim:

1. A re-fillable dispenser having a spray valve for securing to aerosol bombs comprising a tubular cylindrical housing having a central borehole and exterior means for securing to the aerosol bomb, said housing having a horizontally disposed flanged lip integral with the housing at the mouth thereof, said flange having an integral upright collar disposed in spaced relationship to the housing borehole; a tubular plunger disposed Within said borehole of said housing and protruding suitably above said collar, said plunger comprising a top plunger element having a central borehole having a cup cavity at the borehole bottom and having a lateral borehole connecting said central borehole to the outside, said plunger having a plunger bottom tubular element having a central borehole having a cup cavity in its top, said bottom element having a conical exterior surface adjacent its base disposed in said dip tube and adapted to gradually close-off the dip tube upon being inserted into said tube, said top plunger base being inserted and fixed within said cup cavity of said bottom plunger element, and a moveable ball disposed captively with the cup cavity of said top plunger element and adapted to seat against the borehole of the top plunger section in a sealing gas tight manner; a sealing resilient ring secured about the exterior surface of the top plunger element at all times in a gas-tight manner, and disposed normally against the top edge of the bottom plunger element in a gas-tight seat, said collar being turned over to form an apertured dome thereby captively and immoveably seizing said sealing ring within said housing, and spring means engaging about said plunger urging said plunger continually upward in seating engagement with said sealing ring, a reservoir chamber between the exterior wall of said bottom plunger element and the borehole wall of said housing, whereby introduction of propellant liquid into the borehole of the top plunger element forces the liquid past the ball and into the bottom plunger element and thence into the aerosol bomb or container and upon termination of the filling operation the propellant liquid within the bomb forces the fluid to seat the ball in the plunger to form a gas-tight seal and simultaneously fill the reservoir chamber.

2. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the cavity of the top plunger element is provided with at least one corrugation thereby forming a trough permitting passage of fluid around the ball.

3. Thedispenser of claim 2, wherein the bottom cavity Wall of the cavity of the bottom plunger element is provided with at least one slot or groove in the borehole mouth thereby maintaining fluid communication between the fluid in the dip tube and the ball at all times.

4. The dispenser of claim 3 wherein said housing is provided with an inwardly disposed transverse wall and where the dip tube is provided with an enlarged top end disposed on said transverse wall.

5. The dispenser of claim 4 wherein said spring means is a coil spring disposed about the exterior wall of the bottom plunger element and within said housing reservoir.

6. The dispenser ofclairn 5 wherein the bottom plunger element has an exterior wall of three integral cylinders of diminishing diameters, the top cylinder being integral pressure within the bomb container falls thereby causing,

ball 30 to fall, thus placing the aerosol bomb in a condition ready for re-filling.

with a top cylinder section disposed normally above the reservoir chamber and in close spaced relationship to the housing boreholewall to permit passage of propellant therebetween.

7. The dispenser of claim 6 comprising a screwthread securing means integral with the housing and a pressure resistant container having a screw-threaded mouth secured to the screw-threads of the housing in a gas-tight No references cited; 

